Creation Stories
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-- School Library Journal, 6/25/2008 1:01:00 PM
Just about every culture and religion has its own version of the creation story. While some call it myth and others call it gospel, the questions about beginnings have seemingly unending answers. Interestingly, the basic Adam and Eve story recited in religious education classes and Sunday services is largely absent from children's creation-story literature.
COHEN, Deborah. The Seventh Day. illus. by Melanie Hall. Lerner/Kar-Ben. 2005. PLB $16.95. ISBN 978-0-929371-24-5; pap. $6.95. ISBN 978-1-58013-125-4.
PreS-Gr 3–A lovely telling of the creation story from a Jewish viewpoint. As a potter, God molds the earth; as a musician, God sings out the sounds of the world; and as a painter, God colors the eyes, fingernails, and even freckles on the first boy and girl. Hall’s mixed-media illustrations brightly dance across the pages, moving the story along to the first Shabbat (Sabbath), concluding with a simple prayer.
JOHNSON, James Weldon. The Creation. illus. by James E. Ransome. Holiday House. 1994. Tr $18.95. ISBN 978-0-8234-1069-9; pap. $6.95. ISBN 978-0-8234-1207-5.
PreS-Gr 3–A group of children gather around an African-American storyteller to hear the creation tale. Wordless spreads depicting creation milestones (sun and moon, land, sea) alternate with text and illustrations showing the storyteller and his rapt audience. Ransome’s boldly colored and textured illustrations are a perfect match for the majesty of Johnson’s words, originally part of a poem written in 1919.
MARTIGNACCO, Carole. The Everything Seed: A Story of Beginnings. illus. by Joy Troyer. Tricycle. 2006. Tr $15.95. ISBN 978-1-58246-161-8.
Gr 1-3–A simple concept–life coming forth from a seed–is used to explain the birth and growth of the universe and all its entities. This junior version of Big Bang evolutionary physics goes end to end in its explanation of ongoing life. Troyer’s batik illustrations are full of color and detail. Children will love the ending, which emphasizes the future and their part in it.
MCDERMOTT, Gerald. Creation. illus. by author. Dutton. 2003. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-525-46905-6.
K-Gr 3–This interpretation of the creation story influenced by diverse sources, including the Hebrew Bible and the Babylonian epic Enuma Elis, begins with a single breath. The text builds in intensity as man and woman are created, to “be keepers of all this beauty.” Incredibly rich and detailed gesso and fabric color paintings make this book an absolute knockout.
MCGEE, Marni. While Angels Watch. illus. by Tina Mcnaughton. Good Bks. 2006. Tr $16. ISBN 978-1-56148-513-0.
PreS-Gr 2–Mcnaughton’s sweet illustrations with sparkly silver splashes will have little ones poring over the pages of this book, which connects angels with the creation of flowers, birds, and even the stripes on a bumblebee. The focus moves on to explain the presence of angels in the lives of animals and humans. The gently rhyming text lends itself well for a read-aloud.
WOOD, Nancy. Mr. and Mrs. God in the Creation Kitchen. illus. by Timothy Basil Ering. Candlewick. 2006. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-1258-0.
PreS-Gr 2–Cooks young and old will be delighted with the concoctions that come out of Mr. and Mrs. God’s kitchen in this humorous look at the creation story. When Mr. God creates a pelican and it eats one of Mrs. God’s newly crafted fishes, she refuses to speak to him for a thousand years. Only the creation of a whale–“A little large, but it has character”–gives her an excuse to forgive him. Ering’s detailed ink and acrylic illustrations burst from the pages with energy to spare.
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